This means you should see ads at some point when doing a search in the Play Store as more developers decide to pitch their products this way. Just as with search results on the web, the promoted content floats its way to the top, and is marked as an ad.

Why this matters: On the one hand, you may not be excited about seeing ads in the Play Store. However, Google appears to have ensured they won’t be terribly annoying or intrusive. Developers have a lot to gain as well, as they’ll no longer be at the mercy of Google’s somewhat questionable algorithms to promote their apps. It’s another case of enlightened self-interest: while this may help devs and (possibly) consumers, this move also opens up another revenue stream for Google.

This story, "Google Play search ads now available for all Android devs" was originally published by
Greenbot.

To comment on this article and other PCWorld content, visit our Facebook page or our Twitter feed.